The
SWATCH-FIVB World Championships for players under 21 years old will be held in Europe for the
fifth time as Italy hosts the sixth annual event from 4th - 9th September in
Modena. The
first four SWATCH-FIVB U-21 World Championships were held in France at Le Lavandou (2001) and Saint Quay Portrieux (2003), Catania,
Italy (2002) and Porto Santo, Portugal (2004). Brazil's world famous
Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro hosted the 2005 SWATCH-FIVB World
Championships where Martins Plavins and Aleksandrs Samoilovs captured the gold
medal as Latvia became the third country to win a U-21 men's title. Brazil (2001 and 2003) and Spain
(2002 and 2004) have each won two gold U-21 gold medals. Overall, Brazil
has four medals with a podium finish in each of the first four events before
claiming a fourth-place in 2005.
Spain has three podium placements followed by two each for Germany, Latvia and
Russia, and one each for
the Czech Republic and Venezuela. Two past men's SWATCH-FIVB U-21
Champions from Brazil have claimed titles on the SWATCH-FIVB World Tour.
Pablo Herrera (pictured left), the 2003 champion with Raul Mesa, won the 2004 SWATCH-FIVB World
Tour event in China with Javier Bosma. The pair also claimed the silver
medal at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. Pedro Cunha (pictured right), a three-time U-21
medal winner, captured his first SWATCH-FIVB World Tour event in 2004 with Para
Ferreira at the Puerto Rico stop. At the 2006 SWATCH FIVB World Champioships in
Myslowice, Poland became the first host country to win a medal at the event and
the first to bag two medals at the same event.